Scientists are implanting gene-edited PIG organs in monkeys so they could one day be used in humans
- The demand for human organ donations vastly outstrips the present-day supply
- With similar-sized organs to humans, pig organs might possibly be used instead
- First, researchers must test the idea by transplanting pig organs into monkeys
- Gene-editing procedures are used to ensure the pig organs aren’t rejected
- eGenesis is conducting tests at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston
Pig organs might one day be transplanted into human patients, as researchers look to boost supplies of donor organs to meet presently overwhelming demands.
The US-based startup eGenesis has teamed up with the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston to test whether pig organs can be transplanted into monkeys.
If successful, such developments could pave the way towards beginning trials to see if pig organs can also be safely transplanted into human patients.
Researchers are using cutting-edge gene editing techniques to modify the organs before transplant to decrease the risk that they will be rejected by the donor’s body.
Scroll down for video
Pig organs might one day be transplanted into human patients, as researchers look to boost supplies of donor organs to meet presently overwhelming demands (file photo)
The demand for donor organs for transplantation vastly outweighs the supply.
In the US alone, for example, there are around 120 thousand individuals presently waiting for a life-saving organ transplant.
It has been suggested that the supply of human donor organs could be augmented by those taken from animals, or those grown independently in the lab.
Headed by Harvard University geneticist George Church, US-based firm eGenesis is working to adapt pig organs so that they might ultimately be made suitable for transplant into human patients.
Pig organs would be a good choice for transplantation into human patients, as their organs tend to be similar in size to that of our own.
One of the main challenges to cross-species organ transplant lies in suppressing the recipient’s body’s immune response that would otherwise attack the donated organ.
Professor Church and his colleagues are using the CRISPR gene editing technique to modify pig organs so they are less likely to be rejected.
Once modified, eGenesis researchers are testing the viability of the organs after transplanting them into monkeys in tests at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, in the US.
‘What we’re doing is a necessary step,’ says James Markmann, who is Massachusetts General’s chief of transplant surgery as well as an eGenesis adviser.
‘We’d be hard-pressed to put a modified organ into a human until it’s been tested in a large animal,’ he added.
The exact nature of the current experiments — which organs are being transplanted, the species of the recipient experimental monkeys and the details of how the pigs are being raised — remains under wraps, reported the MIT Technology Review.
The US-based startup eGenesis has teamed up with the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston to test whether pig organs can be transplanted into monkeys (file photo)
In a study last year, German experts reported that several baboons were kept alive for around six months after their hearts were replaced with donor hearts taken from pigs ((file photo)
This is not the first time, however, that pig organs have been transplanted into primates.
Previously, researchers from the US National Institutes of Health managed to implant pig hearts inside baboons, alongside the monkeys’ natural hearts.
The experts succeeded at keeping the baboon hearts alive and beating for two years.
In another study, last year, German researchers reported that several baboons were kept alive for around six months after their hearts were replaced with those taken from pig donors.
If these experiments ultimately prove successful, researchers may eventually move to testing whether cross-species transplants might be used in humans and potentially relieve the present demand for donor organs.
Researchers like Harvard University’s Professor George Church, pictured, are using cutting-edge gene editing techniques to modify the organs before transplant to decrease the risk that they will be rejected by the donor’s body
Back in 2015, eGenesis had announced that it had managed to raise more than £30 million ($38 million) to support its research and development endeavours.
‘Basically, this whole field has been in the doldrums for 15 years,’ Professor Church had said at the time.
‘There’s been kind of a few true believers that had it on life support.’
However, he added, his new work would revive the idea of transplanting organs between different species.
‘But I think this changes the game completely,’ he added.
WHAT IS XENOTRANSPLANTATION?
The transplantation of a healthy heart from one animal into the body of another species is known as xenotransplantation.
It has long been heralded as a potential avenue to cure people suffering with life-limiting and life-threatening cardiac conditions.
Waiting lists for transplants from dead, or allogenic, donors is growing as life expectancy increases around the world.
Many chronic conditions result in death if a transplant is not successful.
The World Health Organisation definie it as: ‘Living cells, tissues or organs of animal origin and human body fluids, cells, tissues or organs that have with these living, xenogeneic materials, has the potential to constitute an alternative to material of human origin and bridge the shortfall in human material for transplantation.’
A statement from the WHO also urges Member States to ensure effective national regulatory control and surveillance mechanisms before allowing xenogeneic transplantation to take place.
It can be extremely dangerous to patients as the natural immune response from the body often rejects the organ.
Source: Read Full Article